penus Latin · revision 33488

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=ine-pro *pen-os}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈpɛ.nʊs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈpɛː.nus]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''penus''' ''m'' or f (genitive penī or penūs); variously declined, second declension, fourth declension^(Wiktionary)

+ Usually feminine (in Plautus once masculine) of the fourth or second declension, genitive ''penūs'' or ''penī''; also neuter ''penum'', ''penī'' and neuter ''penus'', ''penoris''.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ Gellius reports genitives ''peneris'' and ''peniteris'', and Charisius a form ''penū'' in Afranius.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|itc-pro|*penos]], [[inh|ine-pro|*pen-os|t=food]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) Cognate with [[lt|penė́ti|t=to feed]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012) De Vaan cites Stüber's account of the meanings of the family: “what one feeds with”, then “the place one feeds at”, then “the interior, the home”, which explains [[m|la|penes]], [[m|la|penitus]] and [[m|la|penetrō]]; he finds it unclear whether the neuter ⟨penus, -oris⟩ or the second- and fourth-declension noun is older.^(de Vaan 2008) Older dictionaries linked it with [[m|la|pāscō|t=to feed]] or [[grc|πένομαι|tr=pénomai|t=to toil]].^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is found first in Plautus,^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) who has ''virōs quibus sunt verba sine penū et pecūniā'', “men who have words but no food or money”.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is the store of food of a household, provisions of every kind:^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Cicero defines it as everything that people eat,^(Lewis & Short 1879) and Döderlein notes that, unlike ''alimenta'', it refers to the needs of a whole family.^(Döderlein 1874) In law it was a separate category of a person's property, which could be left in a will: Lucilius mentions a man who left his wife ''mundum omne penumque'', and the Digest has a title on legacies of provisions;^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Gellius discusses the jurists' definitions.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Columella has the neuter plural ''penora''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) Festus records that the innermost part of the temple of Vesta was called ''penus'', and the ''Historia Augusta'' says that Elagabalus broke into it.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of household provisions.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 190–159 BC – Terence has ''omnem penum''.^(Georges 1913)^(OLD 2012)

+ * c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius uses it of a legacy to a wife.^(OLD 2012)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero defines it as all that people eat.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it in the ''Aeneid''.^(Conte 2010)^(OLD 2012)

+ * 1st century AD – Columella has the plural ''penora''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ * c. 165 AD – Gellius discusses its legal definition.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|food|alt=Food]], [[m|en|provisions]], especially the store of food of a household.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(law)'' Provisions as a category of property, for instance in a legacy.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # The innermost part of the temple of Vesta, a [[m|en|sanctuary]] or storeroom there.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[penes]]

+ * [[penārius]]

+ * [[penātēs]]

+ * [[penātor]]

+ * [[penuārius]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[penitus]]

+ * [[penetrō]]

+ * [[penetrālis]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}